Hasbro Equestria Girls Mini Dolls

On the same day I found the Disney Princess Little Kingdom sets at Target, I found a few of the new Equestria Girls mini dolls, designed by the same gal who does the Pocket Princesses. :D It was so exciting to get to see them in person. :)

(Side note here: the Little Kingdom sets are starting to show up on the Toys R Us website. Most of them are not available yet, but the big Frozen set is! :D You can see all of the new Hasbro princess dolls HERE, and the Frozen set HERE...for some reason it didn't show up in the search with the others. Okay, back to ponies now.) ;)

There were a couple of the larger EG sets there. While they were tempting, I didn't pick them up for several reasons. First, they were more expensive. Second, I wasn't sure where I would store everything. And third, I found I preferred the dolls in their regular meet outfits, even though their pajamas were super cute, too.

First I found Pinkie Pie's Slumber Party bedroom set. It was $19.99.

A closer look at adorable Pinkie Pie.

Her set has some great accessories and even comes with Gummy! :)

Here's a look at the back of the box, showing you all of the things the set comes with. (Twilight Sparkle is not included, but comes in her own smaller sleepover set.)

There was also a shot of all of the basic figures in their meet outfits. :)

Next I found Rarity's Slumber Party Beauty Set. This one was slightly smaller and was a little less, somewhere around $15. (Sorry I don't remember the exact price.)

A closer look at Rarity and her pet cat Opal.

The back of Rarity's box. As with Pinkie Pie's box, Fluttershy is not included.

The dolls were a little larger than I'd been picturing, but still small enough to hold in one hand. And cute. I can't even begin to express how cute they are in person!

While I didn't come home with the bigger sets, I did snag the four basic dolls they had in stock: Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight Sparkle. :D The basic dolls were $7.99 each. Hooray for Christmas gift cards. :D

Here's Twilight in her package.

And the back of the package.

I decided to open Twilight right away for review. Her plastic packaging was easy to remove.

She was nestled in this clear plastic, held in place by a few thin plastic ties that were easily removed with scissors.

And here she is! :D

Twilight from the back. I can't get over the detail in the sculpt of her hair. Well done, Hasbro! :)

And hooray for show-accurate clothing! :) That's been one of my biggest complaints with the larger EG dolls.

Her cute socks and shoes.

Her skirt is made of a rubbery plastic material and is removable.

It has peg and hole closure in the back.

One of the great things about these dolls is that they've got a lot more articulation than you'd normally see in a doll this size. Twilight bends at the elbows and knees and rotates at the head, hips, and shoulders.

Which makes for all sorts of fun posing possibilities:

She has a little trouble sitting without looking a bit awkward (a lot of this is due to her long hair).

Even with her legs straight, it still looks a bit off.

But she sits on her knees really well. :)

Her head can tilt...

...from side...

...to side.

She can also look to the right...

...and the left.

It was hard to capture on camera, but she can also look down.

Next, we'll take a look at Pinkie Pie. Here's the front of her box...

...and the back.

I have to say, Pinkie Pie has never been my very favorite pony (although she's grown on me as her character has developed), but she is my very favorite of these figures. Hasbro did such a great job capturing her spunky, silly personality. And she's just plain adorable. :)

They got her hair down perfectly, too. :) 

One thing I discovered with Pinkie Pie is that these figures can do the splits. :) Fitting for Pinkie. :)

One issue I have with these dolls is that they're super top-heavy. Their legs aren't all that strong, and they have a hard time not splaying out from side to side. I think this is partially due to the way they're displayed in the box. Rarity's legs were together and don't have the same issue (although she still struggles with falling over because of her heavy hair). 

As a result, it's difficult to get these girls to stand alone. It can be done, but it takes some work. I don't know that I'd feel comfortable keeping them on display standing unassisted. I think eventually I'd have a case of all of my pony toys playing dominoes. ;) My recommendation would be to prop them up against something for added support.

At first, I just had these two opened, so I decided to take a few pics of the two of them together. :)

But they were so cute, I couldn't stop with just two. ;) Here's lovely Rarity.

And the back of her box.

Rarity is another pony that is not one of my favorites, but I think they did a fabulous job with her doll.

Again, I'm loving the great hair sculpt! :D

She's got the same elbow and knee articulation: 

But she seemed to prefer simpler poses. Her hair was also the most top-heavy of all four dolls, so there was only so much I could do with her knees without making her topple over.

And here's Applejack.

The back of her package.

Applejack is so cheerful and cute. :)

Back view. I love the way her ponytail is swinging to one side. Not only does it suggest movement, but it makes it easier to turn her head back and forth or tilt it from side to side.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that her hat is removable. :) It stays nicely on her head, but is easy to remove, so it's a great design. As an added bonus, her right hand is cupped in such a way that she can hold the brim of her hat. :) Posing her this way does make her want to fall over, though, so she had to lean pretty heavily on the backdrop for this photo.

She looks like she's yodeling here. ;)

I thought I should include a few comparison pics to give you an idea of size and also show the differences between other MLP toys.

First up, we have my original Equestria Girls Fluttershy doll next to mini EG Rarity. As you can see, there's a pretty big height difference. 

Fluttershy's face is nice (although I prefer the newer, sweeter editions of this doll), but she doesn't really look like herself.

This doll nails it. She looks exactly like Rarity, in her sculpt, her hair, and her outfit.

Here's Rarity next to a blind bag Rarity.

And here she is next to a brushable Rarity (kindly on loan from Middle Gal).

The Equestria Girls mini line is another line that brings to mind the adorable but short-lived Kawaii Crush dolls from two years ago. I think they'd look super cute on display together. :)

Rarity in three forms. :)

So, it's time to weigh in and share what I thought of these newest additions to my MLP collection. :)

Pleasing Qualities: 5 out of 5

   These dolls are absolutely darling and completely lived up to my expectations. The face molds are spot on, and the detail of the sculpting on the hair, clothing, and faces is incredible. The Equestria Girls mini dolls look much closer to their animated counterparts than the previously released versions of the dolls. I can't wait to see what else we have coming from this line, and I predict these will be a big hit for My Little Pony fans of all ages. :)   

Posability: 4 out of 5

    Overall, the level of posability on dolls of this size and style is impressive. I love that the dolls have articulated elbows and knees and tilting heads. It's always nice when a doll has more than just the standard movement at head, shoulders, and hips. That being said, I am docking a point because of the difficulty I had getting them to stand on their own with their top-heavy design. The dolls do have holes in their feet, so it would be awesome if eventually they came with some sort of stand, perhaps a plastic disc with pegs in it, to help them display more easily.

Playability: 5 out of 5

    I think these have a lot of playability. My girls have had a great time with them and (so far) haven't found their difficulty in standing too frustrating. I'll share more of their thoughts in a bit. :) 

Price: 5 out of 5

   The individual EG dolls are priced at $8, which I think is a very fair price for the level of detail in each doll. Even the bigger sets come with enough fun and unique accessories to make them worth the $15-$20 price tag. Again, I chose the individual dolls because of the limited amount of space I have left on my shelves and the fact that I preferred their meet outfits. But if I had more space and an unlimited budget, I'd totally splurge and get the bigger sets, too. ;)

Thoughts from the Gals: Just a reminder, these are thoughts from my girls, typed exactly as they are dictated to me. I have them come in one at a time to share their thoughts with me, and I do not have them read my review first. I like doing it this way so I get as close to their own true thoughts as possible. :) I find it interesting how often they have similar thoughts to mine. Sometimes, they come up with something I didn't even think about. ;) I hope you enjoy hearing their opinions as much as I always do.

Oldest Gal (age 11):

    The Equestria Girls mini dolls are super cute and super fun to play with. They are really movie accurate, and pretty high on my top ten wishlist. I think my favorites would be Pinkie Pie and Applejack. Middle Gal, Little Gal, and I decided that I would get Applejack and Rainbow Dash, Middle Gal would get Twilight and Rarity, and Little Gal would get Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy (but I might have to get a Pinkie Pie of my own. I'm slightly jealous of Little Gal, who has my mom's Pinkie Pie now.). ;) These dolls are really well-made and are quite lovable.

Would you recommend them to others?

    Yes, except most of my friends don't like My Little Pony. What's up with that?

Which other Equestria Girls characters would you like to see them release in this line in the future?

    DJ Pon-3, Maud Pie, Trixie, Sunset Shimmer, Aria Blaze and the other Sirens, Flash Sentry, and a Rainbow Dash slumber party set. And also one for Sunset Shimmer.

    

Middle Gal (age 9):

    I think that they're really cute and they look much more like the characters than the other Equestria Girls dolls. I like how posable they are, and I like how they have plastic hair, because if they have real hair then it gets really out of hand and sometimes it gets really tangled. I like how they're small, so you can take them places in your pocket. But they can't sit very well, because they're so top-heavy, and because their hips aren't posable enough for them to sit. I think that they're really good for playing and adorable for collecting.

Would you recommend them to others?

    Yes, of course!

Which other Equestria Girls characters would you like to see them release in this line in the future?

    Sunset Shimmer, Flash Sentry, Snips and Snails, Principle Celestia, Vice Principle Luna, the other Twilight, Shining Armor and Dean Cadance.

Little Gal (age 7): 

    They're all really adorable and I love how they all have facial expressions that kind of bring out their personalities. And Pinkie Pie is adorable. I like the way they made her wink. And I also like the slumber party ones because you can, like, play with them with accessories and pretend that they have a house and other things because then they have like phones, and computers, and stuff like that, so you can pretend they're all having a sleepover. They're all really cute and I love them.

Would you recommend them to others?

    Totally!

Which other Equestria Girls characters would you like to see them release in this line in the future?

    I'd like them to bring out maybe Granny Smith, and Big McIntosh, and I'd like them to bring out Tank the turtle, and Principle Celestia, Vice Principle Luna, and Dean Cadance. And Flash Sentry.

While there are a few minor issues with these girls, over all I'm very pleased and am looking forward to future releases in this line. I definitely prefer the regular My Little Pony show to the Equestria Girls movies, but these little figures have stolen my heart nonetheless. ;) I can't help smiling when I look at them. :) 

I can't wait to find Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash! :)

Amazon links:

The EG minis have started showing up on Amazon. These are all currently out of stock, but I thought you might want to check them out anyway, just in case they restock in the next couple of weeks. :) These should be showing up in more and more places in the next month.

Basic dolls:

Twilight Sparkle

Fluttershy

Applejack

Rainbow Dash

Pinkie Pie

Rarity

Slumber Party Sets:

Applejack

Rarity

Twilight Sparkle

Fluttershy

(Pinkie Pie's set is not currently on Amazon.)

At this point, it doesn't look like there's a Rainbow Dash slumber party set, but I'm assuming they'll release one eventually, since they did a slumber party set for each of the other five Mane Six characters. I guess we'll have to wait and see. ;)

Hope you enjoyed the review! I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments. Will these find their way to your collection shelves?